Chapter 1 hausman book
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The document defines social media marketing as an effort to build brand presence through various social networking platforms, focusing primarily on unpaid strategies known as 'earned advertising.' It emphasizes the advantages of social media for businesses, highlighting benefits such as increased brand awareness, customer engagement, and cost-effectiveness compared to traditional marketing. The text also outlines key tools, modern platforms, and the evolving role of consumer insights in shaping effective marketing strategies.
Chapter 1 hausman book
- 1. Hausman and Associates 1 Hausman Marketing Letter
- 2. I. What is Social Media Marketing and Why YOU Need It? What is Social Media Marketing? Simply put, social media marketing is an effort to support your brand using one or more social networking platforms. “Social media marketing consists of the firm’s efforts to create content on various social networking platforms. The goal is to encourage users to engage the firm on these platforms and share its messages throughout the users’ own social network.” Social media experts often include paid advertising on social networks (such as Facebook sponsored stories), banner advertising on other websites (including AdWords), and sites, and Affiliate Marketing as part of social media marketing. However, these tools fit equally well with notions of traditional marketing and media. In this book, for the most part, we’ll discuss UNPAID social media marketing – something Wharton (School of Business) calls “earned advertising”. In Chapter 11, we’ll discuss paid advertising on social networks briefly. Much of what we present in terms of concepts and strategies that optimize your 2
- 3. Hausman and Associates 3 Hausman Marketing Letter “earned advertising” also work effectively with these paid advertising tactics. Social networks provide marketing tools to build one-‐on-‐one relationships with customers and create a community of loyal customers who continue buying your brand and draw in future customers. Social networks also motivate people to share their great experiences with your products and people and become advocates for your brand. Social media marketing gives giant multi-‐nationals all the advantages of the little pushcart guy who truly knows his customers and shoots the breeze with passers by. It turns any business into “Cheers” where “everyone knows your name”. Social media marketing is much more than just Facebook, although, with nearly 1 billion users, Facebook is the largest social platform. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are considered the top 3 social platforms (at least at the time this book was written). But, new social networks arrive on the digital landscape every week – including Google+ and Pinterest, which gained followers more quickly than comparable platforms. Other common platforms include: YouTube (for video-‐sharing), Instagram (photo-‐sharing), Foursquare (a location-‐based social platform), Reddit (a social bookmarking platform), and many more. In fact, there are probably hundreds, maybe even thousands, of social platforms. Some are specialized for specific types of content, like YouTube is for video,
- 4. others are specialized to a specific demographic, such as Mixi for Japanese. More than 300 million people spend at least one hour a day on Facebook, approximately 200 million people are active on Twitter, and 100 million use LinkedIn1. The most active social media users are 18-‐ to 34-‐year-‐olds (82%) and women (78%, vs. 66% of men), according to a survey by Netpop Research2. However, according to CBS, 80% of baby boomers are online; mostly on Facebook3. Socially savvy consumers likely employ multiple social networks, so these numbers do not reflect unique users, but the numbers are still staggering2. By 2014, 65.8 percent of Internet users are likely to become regular social network users4. But, don’t forget blogging (a blog is short for weblog). Blogs are one of the earliest forms of social networks, dating from 19945. Originally consisting of online diaries with limited appeal, except for those run by journalists, today’s blogs are powerful tools for branding, creating engagement, and generating revenue through online advertising. We’ll see later why nearly 90% of firms plan to increase their usage of blogs in the future6. Blogging software makes it incredibly easy for folks with limited technical ability and NO programming knowledge to create attractive and effective websites. Content management systems such as WordPress (my personal favorite), Drupal, and Joomla 4
- 5. Hausman and Associates 5 Hausman Marketing Letter allow users, with a little effort and practice, to create professional- looking websites. But, more than these tools and tactics, social media marketing is a paradigm shift from traditional marketing. Engagement is the mantra of this new paradigm and gifting is its currency. Let’s take a look at how new media differs from traditional media: New Media Traditional Media Two-‐way conversation One-‐way conversation Open system Closed system Transparent Opaque One-‐on-‐one marketing Mass marketing About you About ME Brand and User-‐generated Content Professional content Authentic content Polished content FREE platform Paid platform Metric: Engagement Metric: Reach/ frequency Actors: Users/ Influencers Actors/ Celebrities Community decision-‐making Economic decision-‐making Unstructured communication Controlled communication Real time creation Pre-‐produced/ scheduled Bottom-‐up strategy Top-‐down strategy Informal language Formal language Active involvement Passive involvement
- 6. Why Social Media Marketing? Not every firm chooses social media as a means to market their brands. For instance, Apple Computers doesn’t own any social media territory. OK, so there’s a little Facebook FanPage, but Apple, Inc almost NEVER posts anything or responds to posts there – it’s not even clear if this is really owned by Apple. You certainly don’t see any social media icons listed on Apple’s website. No obligatory: “follow us” on Twitter or Facebook in their advertising or packaging. Some may find this shocking considering Apple’s reputation as a technology innovator and the darling of the social media generation. I mean, Apple created an early version of social sharing with iTunes. But, knowing Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-‐founder, it’s not surprising he liked to control the conversation about his brand7. Apple encourages consumers to interact – with the forums on their website, not in the free-‐for-‐all of social networks. Through its forums, Apple CONTROLS the conversation and conscientious moderators remove posts that conflict with Apple’s view of their brand. Other firms, big and small, find it harder to avoid social media – including iconic brands like Coke and Starbucks. Ford recently reintroduced its Mustang using a social app allowing users to customize their own version of a Mustang. And this tactic was a resounding 6
- 7. Hausman and Associates 7 Hausman Marketing Letter success. Facebook “Likes” nearly doubled on the Mustang FanPage in just a few months8. As you can see from the Ford example, firms see social media marketing as a valuable tool for marketing their brands. For instance, Social Media Examiner found 83% of the nearly 4000 marketers surveyed believe social media marketing is important for their business9. Many marketers plan to increase their use of and budget for social media marketing. In a recent report from Awareness, marketing managers report use of several social media platforms including 87% using Facebook, 86% using Twitter, and 76% using LinkedIn6. Moreover, experienced social media managers plan to increase their use of various forms of social media beyond these 3 major platforms – 91% plan to increase use of blogs6. In addition to vast numbers, social networks appeal to firms because they embed commercial actions within a community10. Thus, social media reaches organizational goals by employing “creative and communications marketing aspects to enliven ideas, unite communities, and amplify stories”11. Blending commercial and non-‐commercial expression reflects the reality that purchase behavior “is part of a social process.... it involves not only a one-‐to-‐one interaction between the company and the customer, but also many exchanges of information and influence among the people who surround the customer."12. Large numbers of consumers use social networks as a major source of this information and influence.
- 8. Additional factors argue for corporate use of social media. One study finds, for instance, consumers are more satisfied with retailers’ Facebook pages than they are with the retailer’s websites13. Declines in the effectiveness of alternative communicative channels, such as television, also make social media an attractive option14. Disruptive, self-‐centered conversations marketers commonly employ in traditional media are not effective in social media and marketers must find new ways to embed messages into naturally-‐occurring conversations15. Rather than broadcasting marketing messages to an increasingly indifferent, even resentful, audience jaded by the 2,000-‐plus messages the average American reportedly see every day, marketers should participate in, organize, and encourage social networks to which people want to belong. Rather than talking at customers, marketers should talk with them16. The top 3 benefits marketers find from using social media marketing are: 1) building brand awareness; 2) driving traffic to their websites and physical stores, and 3) improved customer insights6. Although we’ll talk about each of these elements in more depth later in the book, let’s take a look at each benefit briefly now. Building Brand Awareness You know the old saying: “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door” – well that only works if people 1) know about 8
- 9. Hausman and Associates 9 Hausman Marketing Letter your mousetrap and 2) believe it’s better. Otherwise, the path to your door will be pretty overgrown. Traditional media actually does a pretty good job of building brand awareness because it reaches millions of people with memorable messages and catchy jingles. But, social media marketing builds a DEEPER awareness of your brand. Now, instead of just remembering your brand name and, maybe, a few factoids about your brand, social media marketing encourages consumers to develop a more connected set of attitudes related to your brand. Instead of just hoping they’ll get warm fuzziest about your brand because they like the celebrity endorsing your brand, social media uses your friends to endorse the brand. Now, you not only know about the brand, but you know what your social network thinks about it, which increases the likelihood you’ll buy the brand. You begin to see the brand as another friend and, when you like the brand, it even shows up in your newsfeed just like other friends. With social media marketing you not only develop an attitude toward the brand, you develop “feelings” for the brand. Driving Traffic
- 10. Alright, I don’t want to get into too much of this now (you’ll get a lot more of this in Chapter 9), but social media marketing drives a lot of traffic to your website and to your brick and mortar store. Increased traffic comes through 2 related channels – SEO and Customer Insights. SEO OK, pretend you’re an average user looking for information online. First, you type your search term (keyword) into the Google Search Engine (or Bing or Yahoo, etc). Google returns links to websites that match your search – or SERPs, which is an acronym for Search Engine Results Page. If you’re the average user, you’ll start exploring links near the top of the SERPs and you’re unlikely to go beyond the first page or so in the results. If you’re a firm, you want to be near the top of the search results because you know you’ll get more traffic that way. According to Optify, you’ll get over 35% of the search traffic when you’re in the first position in the SERPs, but only about 12% of the traffic for a 2nd place finish. By position 10, you’ll only get about 2% of the traffic visiting your site17. Google (and Bing and Yahoo) use a complex algorithm (that changes frequently) to determine where your site shows up in the SERPs. And, social media marketing helps your site rank higher in 2 ways. First, the more social media interest you generate the higher you’ll rank. Second, the more you and your friends engage with the brand, the more higher Google will rank the site in YOUR results – see an interesting thing is 10
- 11. Hausman and Associates 11 Hausman Marketing Letter that not everyone will see the same SERPs. SERPs are individualized to ensure YOU get the most relevant links possible, so they’re customized to what Google knows about your online activity. Improving Customer Insights Academic readers and those already engaged in market research probably already recognize the value of all the data consumers share about themselves on social platforms. But, the average social media marketer probably hasn’t explored this data deeply. Using sophisticated ethnographic tools and software such as nVivo, SPSS Text Analysis Software, and HyperRESEARCH, firms can understand not only consumer sentiment about the brand, but elements of lifestyle, unmet needs, and other critical information that allows the firm to develop new offerings, maximize the consumer benefit of existing offerings, position brands, and drive consumer demand for their brands. Although developing consumer insights is a major benefit of social media marketing, details go well beyond the scope of this book. I’ll list some resources to learn more about developing customer insights after the references to this chapter. Other Major Benefits of Social Media Marketing
- 12. Here are a few more reasons why your firm should consider social media marketing: 1. COST Social media marketing is much more cost effective than traditional advertising. In fact, many so-called social media gurus contend social media levels the playing field for small businesses because it’s free. Well, that’s not exactly true, but it’s sure cheaper than a Super Bowl ad – at over $3 million for a 30 second spot. To see the cost effectiveness of social media advertising, let’s look at a little example of how social media spreads a message compared with traditional media. 12
- 13. Hausman and Associates 13 Hausman Marketing Letter This diagram demonstrates the potential reach of social media marketing, which is vast. This example assumes 2 million people see your message across your various social media touchpoints – YouTube, Facebook, etc. Now, 2 million eyeballs may seem like a lot, but when you think about firms like Starbucks that have 16 MILLION fans on Facebook alone, you can see it’s really not that difficult to reach 2 million users when using multiple social networks. Each of those 2 million users has, on average, 245 friends according to the Washington Post. If only 10% of the people who saw your message share it with their network – you’d reach 49 million people. And, if that 49 million shared the same way, you’d reach 1.2 billion people. And, the transmission cost – the amount of money you pay to get this reach – is $0. Now, compare that with traditional media. Even the Super Bowl, the most watched program 2 years running, only reached 111 million viewers in 2011, according to the Huffington Post. And the cost of a single ad airing on the Super Bowl was over $3 million for 30 seconds, which doesn’t include the production costs for the commercial, which can be another million or more. While spreading your message across social platforms may be free and creating a presence on these social platforms is very inexpensive, doing “good” social media requires other resources. You have to create content, share that content effectively, and encourage linked consumers
- 14. to share your content. And, whatever you do in social media has to be done consistently and regularly, or you risk turning the medium against you. So, you’ll have to either dedicate some time for an employee to handle your social media or add it to the already-‐long list of things you have to do. How much time will it take to do “good” social media. Well large companies may have several full-‐time employees who do nothing but manage their social media platforms. Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic employs a social relations team combining expertise in marketing, advertising, public relations, and customer service to manage his social media marketing efforts1. The amount firms invest in social media marketing varies widely. Most small businesses spend more than 6 hours a week managing their social media and this number increases as the firms GAIN experience9. 2. TRACKABLE Social media is trackable. While it’s still difficult to directly link social media output to revenue, social media marketing efforts generate a number of useful metrics. Set things up right and you can tell exactly which types of content work best with your target audience and calculate ROI pretty accurately. You can also track: How people reach your website and what they do on your site 14
- 15. Hausman and Associates 15 Hausman Marketing Letter Where people go after they leave your site What time of day generates the most click-‐through and/or sharing Which social platform performs better How social media engagement indirectly translates into ROI for your firm. Armed with this knowledge, a marketing strategist can more easily optimize their strategy to get the greatest return. You can also do A/B testing to determine which offers work best, which copy appeals to your linked users, and even test different graphics or layout performs best. We’ll discuss and demonstrate analytics in more depth in Chapter 6. 3. LOYALTY Folks confuse loyalty with repeat purchases. Consumers might buy your stuff over again, but not be truly loyal. Loyal consumers not only buy your stuff, but resist efforts by competitors to lure them away. So, when your competitor offers a coupon for purchase, other consumers might switch, but loyal consumers stay true to THEIR brand. Loyal consumers also like to bask in the light of their brand — sharing their love of your brand with their friends. Sharing by friends is a major motivator driving purchases.
- 16. Organization of the Remainder of the Book Armed with your expanded knowledge of social media marketing, the next chapter will refresh and deepen your knowledge of traditional marketing concepts, demonstrating how these concepts impact the success of your social media marketing efforts. Chapter 3 delves more into consumer behavior that underpins online behavior and helps you understand how users make buying decisions on social networks. The next 7 chapters expand on the most popular post from Hausman Marketing Letter – the top 7 skills you’ll need to make your social media marketing successful. Chapter 4 discusses how to organize for social media marketing success listing tools and strategies necessary. Chapter 5 shows why social media marketing takes time. The chapter includes pert charts demonstrating the pathways to success, a checklist of daily and weekly activities necessary, and sources of help in getting these tasks done. Chapter 6 discusses metrics and how to use them to guide decision-‐making. Online sentiment is the topic of Chapter 7, including the topics of listening and coding sentiment, maintaining your online reputation, and crisis management. Chapter 8 covers the important aspects of creating valuable content. Finally, Chapter 9 discusses how 16
- 17. Hausman and Associates 17 Hausman Marketing Letter sharing works across some of the major social networks and how to make sure your message shows up. Chapter 10 tries to bring everything together – showing how to integrate your social media marketing across platforms and how to integrate online marketing with mobile and offline marketing. Finally, Chapter 11 discusses some paid advertising options and how to use them to support your earned advertising strategy. Chapters 10 and 11 also include case studies of successful social media strategies and how your business can duplicate these strategies. Sometimes, I’m challenged at a speaking event or client pitch by notions that social media marketing only works for certain types of firms or in certain areas. That’s not true and I hope to show you this in my case studies. Connect with us to get updates on the book :